Let's hope the CBS Sports curse we had the past couple years hasn't turned into an ESPN curse.

Yeah, said this yesterday.



Against Richmond in the second half, didn't Norris and Clemons play together quite a bit?

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MBB Scholarship Chart

What scares me about Norris is I think he can get exposed on defense. They list him at 6'. he looks more like 5'10'' to me.

While I agree he can get beat on the interior against bigger guards, he's been a really solid perimeter and off ball defender. One thing that also doesn't show up on the stat sheet is the fouls he draws on the defensive end by being a pest. They don't show up as steals but for all intensive purposes he's forcing a turnover and stealing a possession. Seems like he's good for two of those a game.

That all said, some teams are gonna hunt him on switches and will have success. I thought that was one of the most important aspects of Clemons subbing for him Sunday.

First home game ever on ESPN? Last ESPN game? Horizon Championship?

This season has its challenges.

I think we have played reasonably well. Other than Sunday's game against Indiana State, our team has met expectations.

Our struggles this year can be traced to the inconsistent schedule and competition. We play once or twice a week. Half of the games are not competitive because the competition is not challenging. Porter is liberally spreading playing time around. We have a lot of good players. This is great, but without our starters playing 30 minutes and our rotation tightening up - I am not sure if we have seen the best team we can be.

We don't have any rhythm. There are defensive lapses and bad passes. Our players are missing wide open shots. This should not be happening. We have better players. Porter's system requires discipline and dedication to the system. I have yet to see our players consistently execute. The challenge that Porter has is that we have young players who may be better players, but don't have the in-game experience. I think some of the upperclassmen play like they know that. I would like to see our rotation tighten up and see the best players getting the most time.

Other than Williamson and Krutwig, we have not seen consistent play from our experienced players.

I am not worried, but we are about half way through our season.

just wanted to say it has been great to have so many participants with thoughts and ideas...certainly get a wide perspective. My summary would say that most of us still see the Ramblers trying to get to peak performance and a settled line up....

With what happened in the first ISU game, and the beginning of the game in the second, I’ll be interested to see if Porter tinkers with the lineup to start the next game and brings Hall off the bench. I could see him plugging in Kennedy or Welch for the first four minutes to see if we can score faster out of the gate, and bring Hall in at the under 16.

Phyfe for UNI having a successful game is our biggest threat to lose. Putting Krutwig and Welch in together in the first four minutes down low might give us double the opportunity to draw a quick foul on Phyfe early and make him have to back off a bit on defense.

My strategy in the first half would be to lay off the three ball a bit and and just keep feeding the ball to Krut and try to get him 10 first half shots down low. He’s going to have to play 30+ minutes for UNI to have a chance. I would make him have to work hard all 32 minutes. try to wear him out, and see if you can get him in foul trouble. He’s also a 51% foul shooter at 24 for 47 this year, and only shot 61% last year. In the last 2 minutes of the first half, if they are in the bonus, I would send Hutson in with instructions to foul Phyfe as soon as he gets the ball near the rim. We might be able to steal a couple possessions that way.

I agree, biggest issue for us will be defending the post when Krut is sitting. Not worried about wing or guard play this weekend from UNI. They have some players, but Phyfe and their bench size is the key here for me.